Pit for amusement purposes.



H. N. RIDGWAY.

PIT FOR AMUSEMENT PURPOSES.

APPLICATION FILED OUT. 6, 1909.

945,604. Patented Jan.4, 1910.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

messea M27560 6%)" H. N. RIDGWAY.

PIT FOR AMUSEMENT PURPOSES.

APPLICATION FILED OUT. 6, 1909.

Patented Jan. 4, 1910.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

p7, e/mzare5 5 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

v HElBBEBT N. BIDGWAY, OF WINTHROP, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR .TO RIDGWAY CONSTRUCTION COMPANY, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATION OF MASSACHUSETTS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

rir roanmUsEmEN'r runrosns.

Patented Jan. 4, 1910.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HERBERT N. RIDGWAY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Winthrop, county of Suffolk, and State of Mamachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Pits for Amusement Purposes, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawing, is a specification, like characters on the drawing representing like parts.

This invention relates to a building adapted to house various amusement devices such as are commonly found at pleasure resorts, and one of the objects of the invention is to provide'a building of this character which is adapted to accommodate both those who desire to amuse themselves on or with the amusement devices and those who desire merely to appear inthe r6le of spectators.

Of the people who visit an amusement resort, only a small ercentage usually indulge in the pleasure of using the amusement devices and the larger proportion get their amusement by watching the performers. The building herein described is one which has been especially designed to accommodate both sets of persons, and it is so arranged inside that persons who enter may have their choice of using the amusement devices or of merely watching others use them.

My improved buildin comprises an in closed space or pit in w ich a plurality of amusement devices are situated, a balcony situated exterior to the pit and from which spectators may watch proceedings therein, and passageways leading from the balcony to the pit and from the pit back to the balcony. The passageways which lead from the balcony to the pit are preferably of such a character as to make the passage of persons therethrough easy and to tempt persons to descend into the pit, while the passageways leading from the pit to the balcony are of such a character that the passage therethrough will be made more or less diflicult or amusing by being provided with devices that require some considerable agility on the part of the person making the passage to successfully pass over them, or devices of such a character as to give persons a surprise when they pass'over them. This and other objects of my invention will fully appear from the following specification and the. novel features of the invention will be pointed out in the appended claims.

Referring now to the drawings wherein I have illustrated one embodiment of my invention, Figure 1 is a horizontalsectional view on the'line mm, Fig. 2, through building embodying the invention; Fig. is a section on the line aa, Fig. 1; Fig. is a section on the line bb, Fig. 1; Fig. is a section on the line co, Fig. 1; Fig. is a section 011 the line d-d, Fig. 1; Fig. is a section on the line 6-6, .F'g. 1; Fig. is a section on the line ff, Fig.

The building herein'illustrated comprises an inclosed space 3 in which various amusement devices may be placed and which for convenience I will hereinafter refer to as the pit. This pit is surrounded on all sides by walls 4 which are of a sufiicient height to prevent people from scaling them. Any suitable amusement devices may be located in the pit and just for the sake of illustration, I have shown herein a centrifugal amusement device 5, another device 6 in the form of a hollow rotary cylinder open at its ends and in which persons may gather, and a turn-table 7. lhese, however, are merely suggestive of a great variety of amusement evices, any one of which might be located in the pit.

Situated exterior to the pitand preferably surrounding it on all sides is a balcony 8 which is located at a considerably higher level than the floor of the pit and which is intended to accommodate spectators who are desirous of Viewing the proceedings in the pit. There are one or more ingress passageways provided through-which persons may pass from the balcony into the pit, and one or more egress passageways through which 'JODU PPOQLOS persons may pass from the pit back to the balcony. I propose to make the ingress passageway or passageways of such a nature as v to invite persons to pass down them, while the egress passageway or passageways,.on the other hand, are preferably of such a nature as to make it difiicult, oramusing, or both, for persons to pass thereover. There may be any desired number of ingress and egress passageways, that, of course, depending very much on the size of the building slide from the balcony into the 'thus be and the number of persons who habitually enter the same. The ingress passageways may be made inviting or easy in a variety of ways without departing from the invention. One convenient way is to make them in the form of chutes or slides so that persons entering them will slide down into the pit without any exertion on their part. My invention is not limited to making the ingress assageways in the form of chutes, however. n the drawings I have shown several such ingress passageways which are illustrated at 9, 10 11, 12, 13 and 14, respectively, and all of which are in the nature of chutes. The chutes 9, and 10 are located at one side of the pit and lead onto the balcony through an opening 16. The chute 9 may have its bottom rovided with rolls extending transverse y of the chute, and the chute 10 is shown as having a smooth bottom. Persons may slide down these chutes either standing or sitting as desired. At 14 I have shown two-other chutes down which persons may pit 3, and at 11 12 and 13 I have shown other chutes which extend down into the pit from a higher level-than the balcony 8, such, for instance, as from the second balcony 18 which may be located above the balcony 8 and which also afiords a vanta point from which spectators may view t e proceedings in the pit. The two balconies may conveniently be connected by Stairways 19, as shown in Fig. 3. All of these chutes are sreferably of such a character that it will be iflicult,-if not impossible, for persons to pass from the pit onto the balcony through them, and thus these ingress passa ways can only be used for descending. into t e pit.

There may be any desired number of egress passa eways and in the present embodiment I ave s own several such indicated at 21, 22, 23, 24 and 25, respectively.

Each one of these has amusement devices, surprises, etc. therein, or is otherwise so constructed that the passage therethrou h will be made diflicult, amusing or hot While it is within my invention to use any desired amusement apparatus or surprise inthese passageways, yet for the sake of illustration merely have shown some simple devices of this nature which may be thus employed. For instance, in the passageway 21 have shown a drop step 27, as shown in Fig. 4, on which ersons passing through this passageway wi l unconsciously step and ven a surprise. In the assageway 22 have shown two positively-rotated arallel rolls 28 which extend longitudina ly of the passageway'and over which ons must walk, and in the passageway 8, I have shown a movable flocr section 29 on which persons must step, and in the passageway 24 I have shown a freely-rotatable turn-table 30 which preferably occupies an inclined position and over which persons must travel. The passageway 25 is in the form of stairs having moving treads. These various devices that are located in the egress passagewa s are ofsuch a nature that the passage 0 persons over them will afford amusement not only to the persons themselves, but to the spectators occupying the balconies. Under some conditions, it may be desirable to use in the egress passageways amusement devices which are more or less concealed, so that persons passing through said passagewa s will be unaware of the presence of an devices until they are on them.

I have shown the floor of the balcony 8 ontwo diflerent levels, that is, on one side of the building the floor is slightly lower than on the other side of the building. For instance, at the right hand in Fig. 3 and at the top in Fig. 1, the floor of the balcony 8 is on a level with the top of the wall 4 and a railing 33 is provided at this point at the edge of the balcony. At the left in Fig. 3 and at the bottom in Fig. 1, the floor of the balcony is lower and the two floor portions of different elevation may be connected by suitable stairs 34. The top 35 of that ortion of the wall 4 which is adjacent t e balcony floor having the lower level constitutes the railing for the balcony at'this point, as clearly seen in Fig. 2.

The building will preferably be provided with windows 36 opening onto the balconies so that persons on the exterior of the building will see the crowd gathered on the balconies watching the proceedings in the it and will thus be tempted to 'enter the bui d- The balcony is intended to accommodate a comparatively large number, for it is a fact that of the people who enter a building of this sort for amusement purposes, a comparatively small proportion will get their amusement by t ing the various amusement devices in the pit, and a larger proportion will refer to et their amusement by watching t e procee ings in the pit from the balcony. It is, therefore, desirable that the balcony should have a large space to accommodate the larger number who will probably prefer to watch lpligiceedings than to participate in them. relative positions of the balconies and the windows are of advantage too because the rsons on the balconies will, of course, be intently watching the proceedings in the pit and when people outside of the building'see the nterested crowd on the balconies they will be tempted to enter in order to find out what is oin on.

t wi be understood, of course, that the arrangement I have herein shown is merely suggestive of many that might be adopted in carrying out my invention, and I do not Correction in Letters Patent No. 945,604.

wish to be limited to the construction illustrated otherwise than as specified in the ap ended claims.

ilaving fully described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. In a building for amusement purposes, the combination with an inclosing space or pit adapted to contain amusement devices, of a balcony exterior to said pit from which spectators may view the proceedings in the pit, ingress passageways leading from the balcony into the pit, and egress passageways leading from the pit to the balcony, the ingress passageways having a construction which permits persons to readily pass from the balcony to the pit, but which makes it difficult for persons to pass in the other direction, and the egress passageways having therein amusementdevices or surprises.

2. In a building for amusement purposes, the combination with an inclosed space or pit adapted to contain amusement devices, of a balcony exterior to the pit and situated at a higher level, an ingress passageway leading from the balcony to the pit and of a nature to invite persons to-enter the same, an egress passageway leadi g from the pit to the balcony, and one or ii iore amusement devices in said egress passageway' 3. In a building for amusement purposes, the combination with an inclosed space or pit adapted to contain amusement devices, of a balcony exterior to said pit from which spectators may view the proceedings therein,

l i i i Ofiice.

[snan] Signed and sealed this 25th day of January, A. D., 1910,

an ingress passageway in the form of a chute leading from the balcony to the pit, an egress passageway leading from the pit to the balcony, and an amusement device or surprise in said egress passageway.

4. In a building for amusement purposes, the combination with an inclosed space or pit having unscalable walls and adapted to contain amusement devices, of a balcony surrounding said pit, aportion of the floor of the balcony being situated atthe level of the top of the wall and the remaining portion of the floor of the balcony being situated below the level of the top of said wall, ingress passageways in the form of chutes leading from the balcony to the pit, egress passageways leading from the pit to the balcony, and amusement devices or surprises in said egress passageways.

5. In a building for amusement purposes, the combination with an inclosed space or pit, of amusement devices therein, a balcony situated above and exterior to the pit and from which spectators may View proceedings in the pit, ingress passageways leading from the balcony to the pit, and egress passageways leading from the .pit to the balcony.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

HERBERT N, RIDGWAY.

Witnesses:

LOUIS C. SMITH, THOMAS J. DRUMMOND.

It is hereby certified that in Letters Patent NO. 9ti:5,(iOd', granted Jauuary' l, 1910,

i upon the application of Herbert N. Ridgway, of Winthrop Massachusetts, for an improvement in Pits for Amusement Purposes, an error appears in the printed specification requiring correction, as follows: Page 3, line 8, the word inclosing I should read inclosed, and that the said Lett ers Patent should be read with this correction therein that the same may conform the record of the case in the Patent c. c. BInLiNGs,

Acting Commissioner of Patents.

Correction in Letters Patent No. 945,604.

wish to be limited to the construction illustrated otherwise than as specified in the ap ended claims.

ilaving fully described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. In a building for amusement purposes, the combination with an inclosing space or pit adapted to contain amusement devices, of a balcony exterior to said pit from which spectators may view the proceedings in the pit, ingress passageways leading from the balcony into the pit, and egress passageways leading from the pit to the balcony, the ingress passageways having a construction which permits persons to readily pass from the balcony to the pit, but which makes it difficult for persons to pass in the other direction, and the egress passageways having therein amusementdevices or surprises.

2. In a building for amusement purposes, the combination with an inclosed space or pit adapted to contain amusement devices, of a balcony exterior to the pit and situated at a higher level, an ingress passageway leading from the balcony to the pit and of a nature to invite persons to-enter the same, an egress passageway leadi g from the pit to the balcony, and one or ii iore amusement devices in said egress passageway' 3. In a building for amusement purposes, the combination with an inclosed space or pit adapted to contain amusement devices, of a balcony exterior to said pit from which spectators may view the proceedings therein,

l i i i Ofiice.

[snan] Signed and sealed this 25th day of January, A. D., 1910,

an ingress passageway in the form of a chute leading from the balcony to the pit, an egress passageway leading from the pit to the balcony, and an amusement device or surprise in said egress passageway.

4. In a building for amusement purposes, the combination with an inclosed space or pit having unscalable walls and adapted to contain amusement devices, of a balcony surrounding said pit, aportion of the floor of the balcony being situated atthe level of the top of the wall and the remaining portion of the floor of the balcony being situated below the level of the top of said wall, ingress passageways in the form of chutes leading from the balcony to the pit, egress passageways leading from the pit to the balcony, and amusement devices or surprises in said egress passageways.

5. In a building for amusement purposes, the combination with an inclosed space or pit, of amusement devices therein, a balcony situated above and exterior to the pit and from which spectators may View proceedings in the pit, ingress passageways leading from the balcony to the pit, and egress passageways leading from the .pit to the balcony.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

HERBERT N, RIDGWAY.

Witnesses:

LOUIS C. SMITH, THOMAS J. DRUMMOND.

It is hereby certified that in Letters Patent NO. 9ti:5,(iOd', granted Jauuary' l, 1910,

i upon the application of Herbert N. Ridgway, of Winthrop Massachusetts, for an improvement in Pits for Amusement Purposes, an error appears in the printed specification requiring correction, as follows: Page 3, line 8, the word inclosing I should read inclosed, and that the said Lett ers Patent should be read with this correction therein that the same may conform the record of the case in the Patent c. c. BInLiNGs, Acting Commissioner of Patents.

It is hereby certified that in Letters Patent No. 945,60-l, granted January 4, I910, upon the application of Herbert N. Ridgvimy, of Winthrop; Massachusetts, for an improvement in Pits for Amusement Purposes," an error appears in the printed specification requiring correction, as follows: Page 3, line 8. the word inclosing should read indexed; and that the said Letters Patent, should he read with this correction therein that the same may conform the record of the ease in the Patent Oflice.

Signed and sealed this 25th day of January, A. 1910.

[emu] C. U. BILLI NGS,

Acting Commissioner of Patents. 

